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March 28, 2024

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Spring Housing Guide

Readers need to chill out about character deaths

First and foremost, I would like to thank the University for closing school yesterday, which was one of the goals for my college career. And a big thank you to my editors for making me brave the freezing cold and snow to come in anyway. Thanks.

But anywho, a few weeks ago an article was run in the Orlando Sentinel about a British bookstore called Waterstone’s plans to open a Harry Potter Helpline to help the dedicated fans of the book series cope with the loss of two of the main characters.

J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, says on her Web site and on fan sites across the Web that two of the series’ main characters will die in the seventh and final book of the series, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.”

According to the popular fan site on the Web, mugglenet.com, two of the main characters will die in the final book. There is no concrete evidence that of who it will be, at least that Rowling has mentioned.

There is much speculation out there about who it will be based on things she has said, foreshadowing speculation has given many people ideas, but as far as any concrete evidence from Rowling herself, nothing has been said.

For some though the death of two of the characters is becoming a big money maker. Bookies in Great Britain are taking money and placing bets on who will bite it in the final book.

The best bets right now are on Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Draco Malfoy they are paying 6-1 odds. Odds are the best with Voldermort with 4-5.

There are also bets on who will hook up with whom, and who will end up killing whom. There is money being put on Ron and Hermione getting married, and Harry will be the best man, if he survives to see the wedding that is.

There is also money on Ron and Hermione having a child called Harry, and Ron killing Draco Malfoy in a duel.

Now that seems sensible to me, but people that get broken down enough to warrant a helpline need to get a hobby or take a goood look at their priorities in life to figure out why they care so much about the death of a fictional character.

I will be the first to admit that I did cry over the death of Albus Dumbledore in the sixth book, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.”

He was my favorite character of the entire book. He was old, wise, sensible and well let’s face it, he could do anything he wanted to do.

He was by far the best character of the books. But I mean really, people getting so depressed about a fictional character dying in a fiction work?

If you are an avid reader of the books then you should have seen this coming, first and foremost, Harry’s parents die.

Then the closest thing Harry has ever had to a parent, Sirius, dies. Then people start dying in defense of Harry in “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” trying to defend him. And in the end of “Half-Blood Prince,” Dumbledore dies.

This series is full of people dying, people being tortured and people having evil things being done to them. For the people that have any sense of foreshadowing at all, they should have seen this coming. People dying left and right, and the evil character refusing to die, really. He just refuses to die.

It is an accepted fact that Tom Riddle will die, or as most people call him Lord Voldermort, he-who-must-not-be-named, or any mix of the above names.

Just his name, Voldermort, means death. In many languages in Europe, “mort” or “mord” is “death” or “evil.” And his name “vol-de-mort” means “flight from death.” It seems that he is flying from death; splitting his soul seven times is a good way to escape death.

For something that really twists the mind, take his name apart and apply the Norwegian, Danish, and the French meanings to different parts of his name, his name means “excessive, great, or extreme death.” If that’s not enough evidence to show that he is going die, then you are missing something major.

As far as the other people dying, I hope it’s Snape. The backstabbing liar deserves death more than anyone else in the books. Barring Voldermort from the list. He lied to the Order, he lied to Dumbledore, he lied to the Wizengamot, and most of all, he killed Dumbledore! Once a death eater, always a Death Eater.

In his defense though, if Snape did not kill Dumbledore, then he would have died because of the Unbreakable Vow he made with Narcissa. If he did not hold up his end of the deal, then he would have died. If he had any honor at all he would have let Dumbledore live and killed the Death Eaters that were laying siege to the castle.

I know that he had to kill him or he would have died, I don’t know how he did it, but he gained the trust of Dumbledore and most of the staff at Hogwarts.

I don’t know who will die, I don’t really care, but I do know this, this book will be the end of one of the best works of fiction in the world.

Send comments to Andrew Herman at [email protected].

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